Tri-Star puts an extra $2.8m into Oman Antimony Roaster project

Tri-Star Resources announced on Wednesday that it has invested a further $2.8m (£2.05m ) via additional mezzanine loan to Strategic & Precious Metals Processing (SPMP), to assist in further development of the Oman Antimony Roaster (OAR) project.

The AIM-traded company said the OAR is located in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman, with Tri-Star holding a 40% equity interest in SPMP.

It said the investment in SPMP was financed from Tri-Star's existing cash resources, constituting part of the proceeds of the recent open offer to shareholders.

Of the remaining net proceeds of the open offer, $2.7m had been applied to part repay loans outstanding from funds under the discretionary management of Odey Asset Management.

The balance of the £4.42m of funds raised from the open offer - being £0.37m - had been retained to pay the costs of the open offer, and provide additional funds for general corporate purposes.

“The terms of this $2.8m SPMP mezzanine loan are identical to the existing mezzanine loan Tri-Star invested in SPMP in November 2017,” the board said in its statement.

“Contemporaneous with this investment, the two other shareholders in the OAR have invested further funds of $13.2m in the project.”

Since November 2017, therefore, SPMP shareholders have invested a total of $22m of additional funding into the OAR, of which Tri-Star has invested $8.8m - including the latest $2.8m - representing 40% of the total additional funding of $22m.

All of the investments were made on the same financial terms as each other, the board confirmed.